Vorticity analysis of the Palmi shear zone mylonites: New insights for the Alpine tectonic evolution of the Calabria–Peloritani terrane (southern Italy)

New microstructural data on the mylonites from the well-exposed Palmi shear zone (southern Calabria) are presented with the aim to shed light on both the kinematics and the geometry of the southwestern branch of the Alpine belt during Eocene. In the study area, located between the Sardinia–Corsica block and the Calabria–Peloritani terrane, previous large-scale geodynamic reconstructions suggest the presence of strike–slip or transform fault zones dissecting the southwestern branch of the Alpine belt. However, there are no field data supporting the occurrence of these structures. This paper uses vorticity analysis technique based on the aspect ratio and the long axis orientation of rigid porphyroclasts in mylonitic marbles and mylonitic granitoids, to estimate the contribution of pure and simple shear of deformation during the movement of the Palmi shear zone. Porphyroclasts aspect ratio and orientation were measured on thin sections using image analysis. Estimates of the vorticity number, Wm, indicate that the Palmi shear zone recorded general shear with a contribution of pure shear of c. 65%. Then, the Palmi shear zone can be interpreted as a segment of a left-lateral transpressive bend along the southern termination of the Eocene Alpine front.